South Carolina coasts against Baylor

No deficit for Gamecocks in three of four victories in third round

BALL GROUND, Ga. – South Carolina bounced back in a big way on Monday, taking four of five individual matches from the Baylor Bears to win their third-round match at the Callaway/GCAA Match Play Championship.

The Gamecocks, seeded 16th in the tournament, beat the 13th-seeded Bears 4-1 to earn their first win of the week at Hawks Ridge Golf Club after dropping matches to UCLA and Georgia on Sunday. South Carolina never trailed in three of the four wins and closed out all four victories with at least two holes to play.

Wesley Bryan posted the most impressive victory, taking down Baylor’s Paine Gniewek 6 & 4. Bryan won the first three holes of the match and never looked back, losing just once over the 14-hole match. Standing 4-up through 12 holes, the junior from Chapin, S.C., closed out the match with a birdie at No. 10 and a par at No. 11 to clinch his first victory of the week.

Blaine Woodruff, Logan Harrell and Clint Tolleson all finished early as well, with each Gamecock taking 3 & 2 victories in their respective matches. Harrell never trailed in his match with Cody Paladino, taking a 1-up lead after their second hole and never looking back as he only lost one hole on the day. A birdie at No. 14 – the 16th hole of the match – gave Harrell a three-hole lead with two to play, clinching the victory. Tolleson also led from wire-to-wire, winning his first hole of the day and maintaining at least a 1-up lead throughout his match with Matthew Seligmann. A birdie at No. 12 put Tolleson 3-up with five to play, but that lead was reduced to 2-up after a bogey on the match’s 15th hole. Tolleson then made bogey on the next hole, but Seligmann recorded a double-bogey to give Tolleson the victory.

Woodruff fell behind early in his match with Ryan O’Rear before taking the lead on the match’s seventh hole. O’Rear came back to square the match with an eagle at No. 7 (the 11th hole of the match), but Woodruff won the 13th and 14th to go 2-up with four to play. Another birdie at the match’s 16th hole clinched the 3 & 2 victory for Woodruff.

Dean Hester dropped his match to Baylor’s Jerry Ruiz, 3 & 2. Hester led through seven holes, but Ruiz made three birdies down the stretch to claim the Bears’ lone victory of the day.